“PAPER SKIN”
SPOOKYSTACK
photo C.C. Hancock
House of Feelings, the underground label that has quickly been gaining attention through a series of groundbreaking singles from its roster of exciting new artists, is back today with “Paper Skin” by Spookystack.
photo C.C. Hancock
Spookystack is Nelson Fisher. At once both an avant-garde gen Z nob turner and an ageless experimenter of classic melodies and forms, he makes music that pushes and pulls against post punk convention. Sometimes he sounds like a descendant of Depeche Mode in his dourly dry delivery; other times he yelps and winks like a younger, wilder James Murphy. No matter the character emerging from his stately baritone, the sonic experience he creates is utterly fascinating in its bucking of all rules. It is a new flavor of an old sound.
photo C.C. Hancock
On “Paper Skin,” as well as his forthcoming EP, Spookystack announces the way forward. One foot will always remain in the more forward-thinking camps of dance music – he is, after all, one third of the LCD Soundsystem vetted electroclash outfit Public Circuit – but this new batch of songs is more slinky and melodic. Spooky is swinging for the fences here, dropping more melodic flourishes and emotionally open lyrics amongst the sharp twists and turns of his glitchy beats and synth stabs. He adds some wisdom to the canvas, delivered in halting, crooner couplets: “And love hurts; it’ll make you feel paper thin / Stop and rewind the unbreakable manifestation of time.” The accompanying video delights and disturbs, as Spooky explores his alter-ego through the physicality of a Lynchian killer clown. It’s dark stuff, but try to resist moving to these insistent charms of the body.
photo C.C. Hancock
